You are keeping yourself busy writing your research paper and want to leave no stone unturned in getting the outlook, language, and facts right. Writing a well thought out research paper replete with information and your findings is not enough. You also need to go the extra mile and ensure that you maintain a proper format in which you present your academic paper. It is very essential to follow a certain set of guidelines as mandated while writing your research paper so that the format is in sync with the outlook of the scholarly arena. This article will cover two types of research paper formats called APA and MLA and will guide you about the mandated guidelines required under these formats.
APA Research Paper Format
APA is the abbreviation of the American Psychological Association, which established itself with the purpose of encouraging the interests of psychology and promoting it as a scientific phenomenon. The aim of this organization is to cater to the mental well-being of the people and educate them in wide-ranging areas. This organization encourages the amalgamation of science and psychology to further the interest and knowledge reserve of mankind.
The APA formatting guidelines are mainly used by scholars and researchers publishing their papers in the field of Sociology, Economics, Business, Pedagogy, Criminology, Applied Linguistics, to name a few.
APA Page Format
Every word in your title page should be center-aligned and written in bold fonts. The title page should start with the name of the topic that your research paper is focussing on followed by a line mentioning which organizational guidelines you are following.
Next, you need to mention your complete name including the middle and the last name without providing any titles like Doctor or any degree abbreviations. Then you need to mention the name of the institution in which you are working, together with its broader location. Ideally, you should also include an author’s note at the lower half of the title page.
Remember, whatever details and credentials you write in the title page should all be double spaced.
Seems too complicated? It is, that’s why lots of students decide to just search “pay someone to write a research paper” and get this over with.
General Guidelines of Writing Academic Paper in APA Style
You should opt for Times New Roman font having a font size of 12 for writing your research paper. The size of the white sheet should have the specifications of 8 inches11 inches. There should be proper margins on every page which should be positioned at 1 inch from all sides of the page. Please ensure that you employ double spaces while writing your entire research paper.
MLA Research Paper Format
MLA is known as the Modern Language Association which established itself with the purpose of aiding the linguistic and literature research scholars to write their academic papers in an elucidated yet easy format for a better understanding of the larger public. The MLA writing format has been adopted by many different arenas to publish research papers due to its ease of understanding.
MLA Page Format
The title page of your academic paper should have your full name, your facilitator’s name, the subject, and the date of submission in sequence. All this information should be left-aligned and mentioned in a new line with a separation of double spacing in between. Please ensure that you do not decorate this information with underlines and refrain from using italics font. The title of the research paper should be center-aligned with the first letter of every noun and verb in capital letters.
General Guidelines of Writing Academic Paper in MLA Style
MLA style encourages fonts that are easy to read. Hence the most recommended fonts are Times New Roman and Ariel. You should strictly use white sheets having specifications of 8.5 inches * 11 inches. Refrain from using colored sheets. The page margins should be positioned at 1 inch from all sides of the page. Please ensure that you apply double spacing while writing your research paper. For a methodical approach have your page numbers mentioned in the header together with your last name on every page. For example- XYZ 1, XYZ 2
Tips To Write Research Paper in APA and MLA Style
You can use quality model phrases and play with the positioning of your signal phrases. For example, use phrases like n the words of XYZ’, laimed XYZ’, rgued XYZ’, rote XYZ’, to write about suggestions and opinions given by someone. Keep using different verbs to break the monotony of your research paper. You can use verbs like reasoned, contended, asserted, and suggested, in your research paper to make it more interesting.
Now that you have a better idea about how you can proceed writing your academic paper in APA or MLA style, you can keep these pointers in mind and implement them while working on your paper. You can run it through your peers and course facilitators to check if they want any specific changes in the writing style.